News / Nunn Road / 2016 / January 2016

As we welcome the New Year, we also welcome 7 new children to our class. Now we have 6 six-year-olds, 7 five-year-olds and 8 four-year-olds in the class. The boy-girl ratio stands at 12 boys to 9 girls.

Before school re-opened, we cleaned and washed the toys in the classroom, dyed the hanging and play cloths as well as cleaned the classrooms. You may have also noticed the new coat of paint in the whole school and the new fishpond outside. We have moved the rabbit hutch and compost area to the end of the garden. This relocation has opened up more precious space for us to plan other activities in the future.

Last year, the children had said goodbye to the ‘cigu’ tree house as it was badly worn down. We thought of tearing down the tree house and did not make immediate plans at that moment for another tree house. However, Uncle William, the creator of ‘cigu-jo’ came to the rescue by reconstructing the tree house and repairing the damaged areas. Today, the tree house is once again the children’s favourite place during the outside play time.

The returning children rejoiced to see their friends again after the 3-week break. They had so many things to share and talk about when they saw each other.

As always, the six-year-olds are addressed as the big ‘ko-ko’ and ‘che-che’ in the class. They have grown their capabilities and groomed their readiness to give us a helping hand whenever it is needed. They look forward to the big children activities of weaving and learning to read and write. So far they have enjoyed their new daily rhythm.

The 5-year-olds are the important group of children because they are the ones who are spending most of their time playing with the new children most of the time. I’m glad to see them readily reaching out to befriend and include the new children in their creative plays.

The 7 new children are gradually adapting to their new environment and the daily rhythms of the class.

As the kindergarten offers longer hours, the children usually feel tired when it is time to go home. Some might say that they don’t want to attend school anymore.

Dear parents, just hang in there! Understand why they ‘complain’ but gently persist in bringing them to school every morning. Work with us and we hope together we will be able to work out the best way to encourage them to come.

With each passing day, they build friendships with their classmates and there will come a time when they are reluctant to part with them. Then, they will ask you to come later to fetch them after school.

The morning creative activities are important to all the children’s development. Hence, we seek your cooperation to be punctual and to say quick goodbyes to your child after you have walked them to the door. The children who are already there find it hard to concentrate on their activities when their classmates arrive at different times.

Hence from now onwards, I will close the gate after 9am as mentioned in our information pack so that those children that have already started with their activities can concentrate on their tasks without interruption. Late comers will have to come in from the kitchen area to enter the class.

We have started to practise for the coming Chinese New Year celebration. The new children are trying their very best but during the actual day, some may need your encouragement to participate bravely in front of all the adults present that day.

I look forward to seeing you and your family on the 3^rd of February (Wednesday). Attached herewith is the programme and song sheet for your attention.

All of us at Nania would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai’.

Men that ‘saved’ our cigu tree.